| Author | Message | ||
     Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.170.88.172 |
We projected this last night and I have to say it was much improved this way. Of all the things improved by the projector it's architecture and space; we are fully aware of being inside a location, what might 'get' us. The dread is much greater. Does it affect the events? I'd say yes. I think the film was greeted with a shrug when it came out but maybe it deserves a little more credit now; it's incredibly tense and frightening, and introduces one great new idea to the ghost story; that the ghost *draws* us to the moment of it's creation. We don't see a ghost; it sees us. I thought this was fantastic, and sadly not much discussed at the time, or since. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.4.19.77 |
As American remakes of Japanese horror classics go, Tony, 'The Grudge' is probably the best of a bad lot. It benefited immensely from keeping the Japanese setting and original director, Takashi Shimizu, and I thought Sarah Michelle Gellar was great in it (whatever happened to her film career?) But it still remains a frustratingly redundant retread of what Shimizu had already perfected in the original 'Grudge' movies. As suh I wouldn't bother adding it to my DVD collection, in much the same way I wouldn't bother with the excellent but pointless remake of 'Let The Right One In'. Both are well worth watching and that's about it... | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 178.116.55.90 |
The remake added one thing to the original - the ghost's motivation. The scene where the American teacher discovers Kayako's diary is marvelous. Overall the remake is less disorienting than the original which has so many 'stitches in time' it's sometimes difficult to follow the story. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.150.16.212 |
The original is a portmanteau film. watched in that way it makes perfect sense. The American version suffers throughjust being the one continuous story IMO. It's very good but... The best moment for me in any of the Grudge movies is in the Japanese sequel at the end of (I think) the second story - when we find out what was causing the knocking sound... | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.27.14.15 |
I thought the US Grudge was hilarious. Talk about desperate to frighten us - I'm sure it even offered me money at one stage. I prefer my frighteners a bit more hard to get. | ||
| C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick) Username: C_j_fenwick Registered: 06-2011 Posted From: 2.25.113.22 |
Although its a while since I saw the US Grudge, one of the things that struck me about it was how overdone the musical score was. Its by no means the only J-Horror film remake to do this; 'Dark Water' and 'The Ring' were very much the same in this regard. I do get the feeling that when faced with certain moody scenes in films such as these, American studios (or perhaps the actual filmmakers themselves I don't know) feel impelled to telegraph everything with equally moody music. Sometimes I just feel it would just be nice to have silence in some parts as opposed to music; used correctly, it is an approach that enhances the subtle flow of mood and suspense. Not all the time of course but sometimes. And CGI of any kind in these remakes is quite simply an abomination that kills any kind of serious intent stone-dead (unless its very, very minimalist and sparingly used which, as a rule, it is most often not) | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.4.19.77 |
I agree wholeheartedly with you on that score, CJ (you don't happen to work for a dessert firm do you?) American remakes of subtle "foreign" horror films are aimed squarely at the vacuous, usually young adult, US popcorn market and this means the men in suits insist on everything being telgraphed with bells and whistles to help their poor dumb audiences understand the complexities of mood and plot that would be just too much for them otherwise. They care about their audiences and don't want them to have to think too much, it has nothing to do with maximising profits, no way... | ||
| C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick) Username: C_j_fenwick Registered: 06-2011 Posted From: 2.28.176.14 |
'I didn't get where I am today by discussing my job details et cetera et cetera'. No, no dessert firm for me I'm afraid, only a long boring stint on the railway punctuated here and there by the odd suicide. Yes the men in suits do seem to have the masses best interests at heart, don't they? Whatever would they do otherwise - have to think for themselves? The very idea! In all seriousness though, this dumbing down of horror movies (and perhaps other genres too) grows more and more prevalent as time goes on, resulting in films ever more vacuous and irrelevant. To be honest the ratio of good films to bad, in this genre at least, has slipped, for me, in favour of the latter. What we need ideally is for the studios to return to the glory days of the seventies when it wasn't so infernally pre-occupied by profit and let fresh-faced newcomers to the industry experiment with technique and story. Can't see this happening anytime soon though. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.153.144.61 |
I have to say, I don't think Grudge was a great film, or even particularly skilled. But I do welcome things films like this can bring me, even if it's a series of images and ideas. Also I have a soft spot for 'innocent' films, films made simply and with no second guessing. Sometimes sophistication can kill an idea stone dead. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.153.144.61 |
And it dawned on me while watching the key to Sarah Michelle Gellar's appeal; she acts like a child acts, all stern and serious. If she's concerned she furrows her brow, if she's happy she smiles brightley. She's almost like a silent movie actress, and I like that. I really miss her. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 220.138.161.200 |
I see what you mean, Tony, but I think that's more to do with her limited acting skills, personally. She has literally two or three expressions (smile, furrow brow and/or pout, stare into middle distance). There's very little range. And I say this as a big Buffy/Angel fan! | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 178.116.55.90 |
I thought her performance was fine, not on a par with Naomi Campbell's in the remake of The Ring perhaps, but it didn't strike me as amateurish or unprofessional. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
She was the best thing in the movie. I miss her as an actress. But I hated 'Buffy'... not even her and the cute redhead could make me watch it. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 220.138.161.200 |
I don't dislike her, and don't think she was bad in The Grudge or the television shows she's been in - just very limited, in my opinion. |